Still working to get caught up, but as I’m out of town next week, it’s not happening anytime soon. No column next week either…
Best Comic of the Week:
Justice League Unlimited #1 – I think I’m really going to love this series. I am totally all-in on the JLU concept, which has just about every DC hero working with the Justice League, with Red Tornado acting in an Oracle-like role, dispatching heroes as needed. A powerhouse squad, including Star Sapphire and Firestorm (!) head to South Africa, but end up needing help from Air Wave, while Batman and Blue Beetle (Jaime) investigate another problem. The balancing of big name characters with others that go as low as the D-list is appealing to me, and the new threat that is introduced is interesting. Dan Mora is more than up to the job of dealing with all the wild situations and characters in this book, and provides things with a certain consistency that is going to be necessary. I think this book is a response to the Krakoan-era of X-Titles, and I see that as a positive thing. Mark Waid is one of the few writers who can keep all of these balls in the air and keep the character list feeling fresh. I’m surprised this wasn’t an oversized issue, but I have no complaints. The last time I felt this way about a Justice League book, it was Morrison’s JLA.
Quick Takes:
Avengers Assemble #3 – I like how Steve Orlando is working to capture the feel of a team book from the 80s with this miniseries. I’ve missed comics about heroes working together to solve straight-forward threats, which in this issue means a squad facing off against some 90s vampire hunters. I think it’s strange that Marvel has established this entire other Avengers team and only intends to keep them around for five issues, but maybe that’s more honest than announcing an ongoing and canceling it three months in.
Batman and Robin #15 – I continue to like Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s first storyline in this book. He has our heroes facing a villain who was active back when Bruce was first training to be Batman, in England, and it’s not clear if this is the same man or not. At the same time, Damian is starting to wonder about his purpose, wanting to define himself as something separate from his parents’ wishes for him, and that’s an interesting angle for the series to take. Javi Fernández’s art is very nice, and I like the fluidity of his action sequences. I’m reading too many Batman books these days (soon to be reduced thanks to Jeph Loeb getting the main title), but appreciate how different they are, while dealing with similar themes at times (the 20s are all about finding connections with Bruce’s father, it seems). This book is not getting a lot of press, but it’s good.
Batman and Robin: Year One #2 – Chris Samnee is well on the way to becoming a generational artist, I think. Increasingly, I think of him as being on the same tier as people like Darwyn Cooke, able to work in the superhero genre while bringing it a different perspective and sense of aesthetics. His work on this book is really nice. I also like how Mark Waid is rethinking the early days of Bruce and Dick’s relationship from a contemporary perspective; this issue has Child Services checking in on the rich bachelor who has taken on a traumatized ‘ward’, which is a very rare thing. The story about gangsters and Two-Face and stuff is fine, but it’s not the draw to this story.
Black Cloak #10 – I loved the first arc of this series, but have struggled to feel the same connection to this second arc. Kelly Thompson’s characters are very likeable, and I love Meredith McClaren’s art, but I feel like the pace of this arc is much quicker than the first one, with even more characters crammed into it, and it leaves me not having space to really absorb the larger plot. I think I need to reread the whole series before the next issue comes out to really have a sense of it (but realistically, I’m not going to have time to do that).
Black Hammer: Spiral City #1 – I really thought that Jeff Lemire was done with the Black Hammer universe after the last miniseries (maybe because it was subtitled ‘The End’), but now we return to that world once again. Inspector Insector makes his way to Spiral City, finding it a pretty big disappointment in the wake of Anti-God’s final defeat. All powered individuals have been consigned to a ruined neighbourhood, and the heroes are basically gone. This is feeling like it will be a pretty bleak miniseries. I was really happy to see that Lemire is being joined by Teddy Kristiansen on art; he’s an artist whose work I loved back in the day, starting when he drew the Vertigo book House of Secrets. I really like the way he’s drawing and colouring this book, and that makes the return to Spiral City worthwhile.
Black Lightning #1 – I haven’t read a lot of Black Lightning comics in my life (I have almost gathered a full set of Batman and the Outsiders to read when I get time), but I was curious to see what writer Brandon Thomas might bring to the table, so I added this title to my pullfile. It seems that Black Lightning and one of his daughters (Lightning) are working with the Justice League, specifically at tracking down new powered people and offering them training and help. Jefferson’s other daughter, Thunder, is living away from her family, and it seems she’s keeping secrets from them. The setup is interesting, and Fico Ossio’s art is nice. I really enjoyed Thomas’s series Excellence (which I wish had ended), and I can already see some parallels between these two titles, and their focus on intergenerational relationships. I’ll definitely stick around for the first arc and see how this shapes up.
The Body Trade #3 – Kim breaks into a facility to find out what happened to his son’s body in this dark series by Zac Thompson and Jok. I’ve been enjoying this book, which posits an organ and other body part trade that seems more cruel than is necessary. Jok’s art is perfect for this title.
Convert #4 – I really liked this strange science fiction miniseries by John Arcudi and Savannah Finley. It had a real Island vibe to it, if you remember that incredible magazine run by Brandon Graham. It’s the story of an astronaut who ends up stranded on a strange world, where through a number of strange circumstances, he becomes the holder of the secret to helping the people indigenous to the planet be able to consume the local food. He ends up in a strange symbiotic relationship with them in this issue, made even stranger by the hatred they feel for him. Finley’s art is gorgeous, and I like how Arcudi comments a little on colonialism. This issue had me thinking about the series’s title; is it that Orrin had to convert the food to make it edible, or is it about the ways in which he had to convert to a different way of life? This was good stuff.
Daredevil #15 – Matt’s spiral of doubt continues, as both Elektra and Father Javi give him a good talking to, while he tries to find the demon that’s been plaguing Hell’s Kitchen. This is a decent issue, but I feel like this storyline is being extended a little too long. I also don’t know why we see Kingpin on the cover of this issue when he’s not in the book at all. I’ve noticed that this book is $1 more than most of the rest of the Marvel line, and I’m not sure that I’m getting value for that. I like it, and how Saladin Ahmed is writing it, but I think I wouldn’t notice if I dropped it.
The Department of Truth #27 – The second part of Marilyn Monroe’s story is told here, as Huck, the agent assigned to her, struggles with fulfilling his true mission. It’s an interesting issue, with nice art by Alison Sampson, but I’m way more interested in the chapters taking place in the current world than I am in the historical revelations about the Department and its missions.
Exceptional X-Men #3 – Kitty and Emma Frost clash over how to engage the new mutants in this book, and whether or not it makes sense to train them. I feel like we’ve seen this before, and that Eve L. Ewing isn’t doing a whole lot to make this series different from other takes on the New Mutants. I am starting to like the new kids a little more now, but they are going to need more character development, and perhaps at some point, an actual threat beyond the adults who want to be in their life squabbling.
Jenny Sparks #4 – I’m still surprised by how little this series is drawing me in. I find the parts of the book that are about Jenny are interesting, but the main story, involving Captain Atom’s psychotic break, is not doing much for me at all. I also do not understand why Tom King would have thought to structure this book this way. I’m hoping something clicks with the remaining issues. I do like Jeff Spokes’s art a great deal.
Life #3 – This continues to be my favourite DSTLRY series of the year, as Brian Azzarello and Danijel Zezelj give us a smart and gorgeous science fiction series told in a flip-book format. The thieves that have come to a supposedly long-abandoned prison planet have put together a plan to retrieve the diamonds they know are there, while the inhabitants of that world put their own plans into place. There’s some double-crossing involved, and a lot of complicated character interactions. I like how Azzarello has built this world and these characters, but it’s Zezelj who really seals the deal with his atmospheric and perfect artwork. This is a really good creative team who are making the most of the oversized pages DSTLRY provides.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #26 – Most of this issue is given over to Miles fighting the Vulture, which culminates in Starling telling her grandfather how things have to be for her. It’s a decent issue, but I hate this new suit that Miles is wearing. Have we even seen how Miles’s family is dealing with his vampire issue? How long is this storyline going to last, because it’s going to make sure we don’t see Miles at school or with his friends any time soon, which is what I usually like most in this book.
Minor Arcana #3 – Theresa tries to go see an ex in the very early morning, and that leads to her realizing that she is starting to believe in what happened to her last issue, and is even maybe beginning to feel some purpose in being back in the town she grew up in. Of course, that probably means that something bad is going to happen in the next issue. Jeff Lemire’s latest is working for me; it seems to touch on a lot of common themes in his solo work, and I wonder if he’ll ever get to the point of figuring out everything he wants to say about small towns and estranged families.
Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #2 – Moon Knight’s desire to stop glitter, the magic-laced drug that’s been causing problems in his area, leads him to a talk with Iron Man, which in turn leads to him having to tell Tigra something he’d previously kept from her. At the same time, Fairchild, the being responsible for the Glitter trade, is turning up the heat for Marc. This is a very solid issue, as Jed MacKay continues to write the best Moon Knight we’ve seen in ages.
Phoenix #5 – Am I starting to like this title more? I think I might be. Jean has a chat with Eternity (who does not look like I remember) and then finishes off Gorr, before switching her focus to the Galactic Council, who are starting to move against her. I’m still not sure that Stephanie Phillips really understands Jean’s character, as this doesn’t feel like her at all. I’m also still not sure why this book exists…
The Power Fantasy #4 – Kieron Gillen continues his exploration of what a world with powered individuals would really be like, and with this issue, his focus shifts to how that would be for people in relationships with the powered. Masumi is a powered artist, and it becomes clear that everyone around her lives in utter terror of her, knowing that saying or doing the wrong thing could be catastrophic for the entire city. This is an interesting series; it’s taken a little while to differentiate itself from similar projects (I’m thinking of Millar’s Jupiter books, and maybe The Authority in some of its incarnations), but it seems to be really clicking now.
Precious Metal #6 – One of the consequences of not having enough time to even keep up with my weekly stack of comics is that I also haven’t had time to reread the previous issue before a new one comes out, as is my usual practice. I think that this has hurt my enjoyment of this Surrealist series, which has been a little hard for me to follow. Darcy Van Poelgeest’s story is a little confusing, and Ian Bertram’s fluid and viscous visuals often drew me away from the finer points of plot, as I was trying to understand the world he’d visualized. I liked this series, but I didn’t really figure out how it fits with Little Bird, the book to which it’s a prequel. The visuals made up for anything I missed though, in that each page was stunning.
The Question: All Along The Watchtower #1 – I picked this up as an impulse buy, because I’m not sold on Alex Segura’s writing just yet. I liked this issue, and am increasingly intrigued by this huge level up of the Justice League (it’s kind of like DC’s delayed response to Krakoa, in that all heroes of Earth are just going to start hanging out on a satellite, instead of an island). Anyway, Renee Montoya has been tapped by the Big Three to be the Watchtower’s security guard, and that’s an interesting job for a street-level hero. Right away, we learn that there’s something strange happening on the satellite, and that Renee has a team that includes a couple of Blue Beetles, Animal Man, and her ex. I liked this issue, and Cian Tormey’s art, enough to pick up the next one.
Sentinels #2 – This is an odd miniseries, and I’m not sure it’s working for me. I am a huge fan of Alex Paknadel’s writing, but it feels a little like he’s struggling to fit into the Marvel universe with this one. This book is about a bunch of characters (none of whom are new, we’re learning) who have become nanotech-infused Sentinels. In this issue, they go after Sebastian Shaw, who is in prison in Bagalia, and we learn a little about a couple of them. What I’m not clear on is how they fit into the larger picture of the X-Men line (assuming there is a larger picture, which I’m starting to think is not the case). I do like how the mutant diner waitress from the FCBD special makes an appearance here, but I still don’t feel very clear on what the point of the Graymalkin facility is, or how things fit together. This book reveals those problems more than the more mainstream X-titles do.
Star Wars: Battle of Jakku – Republic Under Siege #1 – As this maxi-series moves into its second act, my criticisms have not changed. This whole Battle of Jakku series is moving way too quickly, introducing too many new characters and situations without allowing readers to care much about them or what they are doing. I also think that there are some unexplained time jumps (when exactly did Leia and Han get married?), or writer Alex Segura is assuming that comics readers are familiar with what’s happened in novels or video games, or other forms of Star Wars media set in this period. There are things that I like, especially given who turns up at the end of the main story, but despite the familiar characters and settings, it doesn’t really feel like it understands Star Wars (aside from giving new characters dumb names like Bragh and Howzell, which is an honored Star Wars tradition). I want to know what the plans are for when this series is done.
Storm #2 – I’m still on the fence with this Storm title. As much as I want to like it, I think it’s suffering from the problem that a lot of solo books of characters who are known for their place in teams suffer from. Storm has most recently been regent of Arakko, and her team is splintered and her people scattered in the From The Ashes era. Giving her a solo book means she needs supporting characters, but writer Murewa Ayodele has instead isolated her in a Utopian sanctuary, and then has her facing imminent death from radiation poisoning. I’m not sure why she’s not seeking out Hank McCoy or the other characters who would usually help her; instead, she’s stuck turning to a mysterious doctor who runs a clinic with the Night Nurse that helps anyone except the X-Men. Lucas Werneck’s art is gorgeous, and the story is interesting, but I am not seeing how this is the start of an ongoing series. This feels like a limited series (which, to be fair, pretty much all Marvel titles are now anyway), and I’d like to see something that resembles a longer-term plan for the book put into place.
Time Waits #2 – Chip Zdarsky, David Brothers, and Marcus To have put together a pretty cool time travel adventure story for DSTLRY. It’s not as visually flashy as most of their other books, with To giving this pretty standard comic art, but the story is cool, and would make a pretty good movie. Blue, our hero, is from the future but he turned against the black ops guys he traveled to the past with, and has been trying to make a life for himself. Now his past returns to capture him, because an old rival cannot let go of things, and it’s causing a lot of chaos. This is good stuff.
Titans #17 – John Layman and Pete Woods are continuing their takeover of this title, and have the team continuing to deal with some of the fallout of Amanda Waller’s machinations. The Clock King has come after the team, giving Donna her first test as a leader, which is largely the focus of this issue. I enjoyed it, but don’t really get a feeling of a long-term direction for the book. Woods’s art is always welcome.
Transformers #14 – Starscream’s side adventure continues, as he finds himself rescued by some humans and grafted onto a large tank-treaded vehicle. He’s not happy about this, but as a shard of Cybertron gets left on Earth, and as he finds some of his fellow Decepticons, he sets about making the best of it. Daniel Warren Johnson’s work on this book is great, and I liked the guest art by Jason Howard (who I always somehow figured would end up on this title). This was a solid issue.
Ultimate Spider-Man #11 – Peter faces off against Mr. Negative, and then after taking a bit of a beating, has a couple of conversations that help the reality of what he’s doing with his life really sink in. I like how Jonathan Hickman has made many aspects of this title more realistic, and am enjoying the slow burn that comes with Peter getting better at being a hero, while Norman appears to be moving in a shady direction. This book is good.
The Uncanny X-Men #5 – While Rogue fights the monster from Xavier’s past, the rest of the team fight some shade-like creatures. I like the way Gail Simone brings the young mutant from the first issue into this one, but really, by this point, I expected to be more invested in this series. I’m not sure why it’s not working for me, especially given how much I enjoy other team books by Simone, but I can’t help feeling like many of her takes on these characters are off a little. I want to like this book, and keep hoping it will improve.
Wolverine #3 – Logan continues to work to save a young Wendigo from Department H, while also trying to stay free himself. Saladin Ahmed and Martin Cóccolo have done a good job launching this series, and setting up that something is going on with adamantium-dependent characters, but I’m still not too clear on where this series is expected to go. I am liking it though, and trust Ahmed to keep me wanting to come back.
Wonder Woman #15 – Diana’s allies take the fight to the Sovereign, hitting him where it hurts most, while she stays at home with her baby. This is a very Tom King issue, with a highly structured story format, but it works. It’s interesting that Steve Trevor is now the focus of the backup stories, especially given what’s happened to him lately.
The Week in Music:
YUNGMORPHEUS & Alexander Spit – Waking Up and Choosing Violence – YUNGMORPHEUS sounds terrific on this short album. I’ve become a big fan of his slightly menacing flow, and while I didn’t know Alexander Spit’s work before this project, his beats are very nice. He gives things a nice jazzy feel that really appeals to me.
Nala Sinephro – Endlessness – This is easily one of the most beautiful albums to come out this year. Sinephro’s harp and synths ebb and flow over these landscapes, and her guest collaborators, including saxophonist Nubya Garcia and trumpeter Sheila Maurice-Grey (of Kokoroko), among others, add such light touches to things that I don’t always even notice their presence. Sinephro’s last release was a favourite of mine, but I think this might be an even clearer distillation of her aesthetic and sound. It’s really gorgeous.
Malcolm Jinaye Tree-O – True Story – If you’ve been paying attention to my music picks over the last few years, you’ll have noticed that I’ve been getting into the current South African jazz scene, which is how I found this remarkable record. Where some of his contemporaries get abstract and strange, trombonist and keyboard player Malcolm Jiyane leads his group down paths that embrace their heritage and marry it beautifully to jazz rhythms. This is a lovely piece of work.
Flock – Flock II – Flock is kind of a jazz supergroup, featuring some leftfield players like Bex Burch and Danalogue (of The Comet is Coming). When they work together, the music isn’t as weird as you might expect, and instead we get some chill jazz constructions that work pretty well.
Svaneborg Kardyb – Superkilen – This is typical Gondwana Records post-rock jazz, and if you like that kind of thing, it’s just about perfect. These albums start to all sound the same, but that’s because they’ve perfected this sound. I would say that I like this album even more than the previous Svaneborg Kardyb offering.
